There is no shoot to kill policy, there never has been, and as
far as I am concerned there never will be.

( James Prior, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Guardian, 12 January, 1984)

The nationalist community has repeatedly made allegations that at
various times during the current 'troubles', the British Government, via
the British Army and local police forces, has authorised or at least
endorsed a 'shoot to kill' policy in Northern Ireland. The term 'shoot
to kill' refers to the unlawful killing of known or suspected Republican
activists through their deliberate engagement by security forces in
armed confrontation. The existence of a 'shoot to kill' policy has
always been vigorously denied. This chapter will first outline the context in which alleged 'shoot to kill' incidents have occurred. It will
then examine in more detail some notorious shoot to kill cases to
assess whether official denials are attempted cover-ups to conceal the
truth and if so, whether they are justified.

The context of the alleged 'shoot to kill' incidents

Northern Ireland was artificially created in 1921 when Britain decided
to partition Ireland into two separate political entities — the Irish
Republic, a sovereign state, and Northern Ireland, with a degree of
internal self-government and a federal relationship with Great Britain.
This was seen as a pragmatic solution to the conflicting demands of the
Unionist and Catholic populations. Partition confirmed the conflict
within the six north-east countries between the largely Protestant,
unionist and loyalist majority (approximately one million) who wanted

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